Repairing or rehabilitating steel supported h-piles

ABSTRACT

In order to apply reinforced concrete to a portion of a steel pile, a reinforcing cage is attached to the pile surrounding that portion and is enclosed by a two-piece cylindrical form pulled tightly upwardly against the undersurface of the pile cap and having its lower end closed by a bottom plate. Concrete is pumped upwardly through the bottom plate to displace the water within the form.

United States Patent Wiswell, Jr.

3,690,110 1451 Sept, 12, 1972 REPAIRING OR REHABILITATING STEEL SUPPORTED H-PILES Inventor: George C. Wiswell, Jr., 1014 Pequist Rd., Southport, Conn 06490 Filed: April 9, 1970 Appl. No.: 26,962

US. Cl. ..6l/54, 25/118, 264/32 Int. Cl ..E02d 5/40, E02d 5/60 Field of Search ..6l/54, 63; 264/32; 25/118 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1940 Hansen"; ..6l/S4X 4/1912 Davis ..6l/54X 3,505,825 4/1970 Colby ..6 l /54 2,412,185 12/1946 Weber ..6l/54 953,088 1/1909 Black et a1 ..6l/54 910,453 3/1910 Hindes ..6l/54 Primary Examiner-Jacob Shapiro Attorney-Sr nythe 8c Moore [57] ABSTRACT 7 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures IA IA if;

1 l 0% 1 .1 1 11 I; F1 11 -11 1 11 I} A .LAJL

211 2 a n l0 PATENTEDSEP 12 m2 sum 3 nr '3 FIG.8

INVENTOR ID 620,955 (M/snafu. /m

FIG.9

ATTO R N EYS REPAIRING OR REILITATING STEEL SUPPORTED II-PILES One form of construction of piers which are intended to carry heavy loads involves driving steel piles into the bottom of the harbor or location and building concrete caps or other related structures on the piles so that the piers mounted thereon can support the heavy loads. Since each pile must support a considerable weight, it is of paramount importance that these piles retain as near as possible their complete structural integrity. The steel piles of interest have various cross sections although an I-I-section is commonly used.

After years of service, the steel piles suffer from corrosion, particularly in the splash zone. Where the steel has deteriorated only to a limited extent, continued corrosion can be arrested by application of a suitable underwater splash-zone epoxy coating. While this procedure arrests corrosion, it does not restore the strength of the pile, so that in some cases individual piles may be undergoing a greater stress than that for which they were originally designed. It has been proposed to apply reinforced concrete to the corroded portions of the steel piles. However, previously known procedures for applying reinforced concrete have been extremely time consuming and costly since it was necessary to build cofferdams in the area around the piers and to erect a form around each pile which was to be reinforced. Not only was this procedure costly, but it disrupted normal pier operations.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improved process and apparatus for applying reinforced concrete to a portion of a steel pile.

Another of the objects of the present invention is to provide a process and apparatus by means of which reinforced concrete can be quickly and inexpensively applied to steel piles.

Another of the objects is to provide a simple means to hold the forms together.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a process for applying a reinforced concrete casing to a steel supporting pile may comprise positioning a reinforcing cage around that portion of the pile which is to be coated with concrete. A cylindrical form is placed around the reinforcing cage and the lower end of the cylindrical form is closed by means of a bottom plate which may be suspended from the pile cap on the upper end of the pile. The bottom plate and cylindrical form are then moved upwardly against the undersurface of the pile cap to close the upper end of the form. Concrete is then pumped upwardly through the bottom plate into the cylindrical form which displaces the water from the form until the form is filled with concrete. After the concrete has been cured, the bottom plate and clamps for the form are removed and the form is left in place to gradually deteriorate. The bottom plate may be provided with an opening which closely conforms with the configuration of the pile and also with a valve controlled opening through which concrete may be pumped into the form.

Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the accompanying description and drawings, which are merely exemplary.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the form according to the present invention wherein the structure involves two adjacent piles in the same bent;

FIG. 1A is a section along the line 1A-1A of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the reinforcing cage and bottom plate in position around a pile;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the bottom plate of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a half of the cylindrical form;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of a pile having struts attached thereto with the forms in place;

FIG. 6 is one type of clip that may be used;

FIG. 7 is another type of clip;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view of a jack arrangement; and

FIG. 9 is a section along the line 9-9 of FIG. 8.

, Proceeding next to the drawings wherein like reference symbols indicate the same parts throughout the various views, a specific embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

Each pile is first carefully examined, for example, with ultrasonic equipment, to determine the exact areas of corrosion in terms of vertical heights so as to ascertain where the pile has deteriorated so as to fall below its safe load bearing standard. Generally, about 4 or 5 vertical feet of the pile may have deteriorated so that approximately 8 feet of the pile should be jacketed with reinforced concrete.

An H pile which is to be jacketed as indicated at 10 in FIGS. 1 and 2 is first cleaned of 'marine growth in any suitable manner. A bottom plate ,11, shown in greater detail in FIG. 3, is suspended from the pile cap 12 by means of suitable cables or the like. The bottom plate may be circular in section with an H-shaped opening 13 therethrough to closely conform to the configuration of pile 10. The plate is made in halves 11A and 11B which are bolted together by means of cooperating brackets 14 welded on the underside of the bottom plate and bolts 14A. A vertical peripheral wall 15 is welded to the upper face of the bottom plate. Reinforcing or bracing plates 16 may be welded to the underside of the bottom plate adjacent the opening 13.

A feed nipple 17 is connected to the underside of the bottom plate and communicates with an opening 18 therein. The nipple 17 is for the introduction of concrete into the form and may be closed by means of a slide door valve arrangement 19. The nipple is provided with a plurality of set screws 20 which are used to secure an end of a flexible pipe therein through which concrete is to be pumped.

A reinforcing cage indicated generally at 21 in FIG. 2 is fabricated on the surface by welding together of reinforcing steel bars. The cage 21 may be formedin two parts which can then be assembled around the pile 10 and supported thereon by means of hanger bars 22 which pass through holes burned in the pile and welded thereto. Shear bars 23 are also provided to support the lower end of the cage 21. The amount of steel used in the construction of the reinforcing cage 21 is intended to be sufficient to compensate for the deteriorated or corroded steel pile. The cage 21 comprises a plurality of reinforcing rods 24 which are welded to vertically spaced annular members 25. As described above, the annular or ring-like members 25 may be in two parts which are then welded together when the reinforcing cage has been positioned around the pile.

A two-piece longitudinally split plastic impregnated fiber board from indicated at 26 in FIG. 1 is then positioned on the bottom plate 11 with the halves of a form being joined together with suitable clamps or sealing strips 27 to prevent leakage. One half of a form is shown in FIG. 4 at 28 and comprises vent holes or apertures 29 in the upper edge thereof.

The bottom plate 11 carrying the cylindrical form 26 is then winched tightly upwardly to the bottom of the pile cap 12 by means of a pair of steel pipes 30 passing underneath the bottom plate with the ends of the pipes being connected by a V-shaped cable sling 31 hooked to a cable 32 which may pass over the pile cap in the manner shown in FIG. 1. While FIG. 1 discloses two cylindrical forms being winched into position, the same procedure and pipe support arrangement would be used where only a single form is employed. The supporting cable 32 is then tightened by means of cable tighteners 33. A plurality of chain binders 34 are then tightened about each form as shown in FIG. 1.

A flexible pipe 35, through which concrete is to be pumped, is then connected to a feed nipple in the manner as shown in FIG. 1. Concrete is then pumped upwardly through the pipe 35 into the form 26 and gradually displaces water from within the form. The pumping of the concrete is continued until concrete begins to emerge from the apertures 29 in the upper edge of a form. The gate valve 19 is then actuated to close the feed nipple and the concrete within the form allowed to cure.

After the concrete has been cured, clamps 34 are removed from each form and plate 11 lowered therefrom. The fiber board form 26 remains in position and eventually deteriorates. The resulting structure is a steel pile having a reinforced concrete jacket around its upper portion which has been subjected to corrosive action. The reinforced pipe now has adequate load bearing characteristics in its weakened area to carry the load for which it was designed.

When a pipe pile or other pile has struts extending thereto or therefrom or to be added, the cage can be arranged to cooperate therewith as seen in FIG. 5. Pile 40 has a cage 41 similar to cage 21 seen in FIG. 2. Struts 42 are shown, and when a form, such as 26 seen in FIG. 1, is added, it can be cut so that the struts are accommodated.

The edges of the form can be held in tight relation by various means. One such means can be clip 44 such as seen in FIG. 6 for clamping the edges together. Two clips are used which are nested as shown. The clip also could be made double by turning over end 45 to a shape similar to clip portion 46.

It is essential that the bottom plate be raised or positioned so that there is a tight fit of the top of the form with the bottom of the pile capping. In addition to the arrangement described for FIGS. 1 to 3, inclusive, a scissor jack shown generally at 47 can be employed. Screw means 48 can be operated to force the bottom plate 49 upwardly, the lower part 50 of the jack being supported by clamp 51.

Thus, it can be seen that the present invention has disclosed a simple and inexpensive procedure and apparatus for strengthening deteriorated steel pilesby the application of a reinforced concrete jacket to the deteriorated portion.

It will be understood that various details of construction and arrangement of parts maybe made without departmg from the spirit of the invention except as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a process for applying a reinforced concrete casing to an underwater steel supporting pile, the steps of positioning a reinforcing cage around that portion of the pile which is to be coated with concrete, positioning a bottom plate having an opening therethrough closely conforming to the configuration of the pile beneath said cage, placing a cylindrical-like form, with openings in its upper portion, around said cage and on said bottom plate, elevating said bottom plate and cylindricallike form from the bottom to bring the upper end of said form into contact with the lower face of the pile cap to close the upper end thereof, and pumping concrete upwardly through the bottom plate into the cylindrical form, forcing the water within the form outwardly thereof through said openings until the form is filled with concrete.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein said reinforcing cage is in two parts with said parts being assembled around the pile.

3. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein said cylindrical-like form comprises two parts with said parts being assembled around the pile and cage.

4. A process as claimed in claim 3 including the step of sealingly connecting the cooperating edges of the cylindrical-like form parts.

5. A process as claimed in claim 4 including the step of maintaining the cylindrical-like form tightly against the pile cap while the concrete is being pumped into the form and being cured.

6. A process as claimed in claim 1 including the steps of suspending the bottom plate around the pile and positioning the cylindrical-like form on the suspended bottom plate.

7. A process as claimed in claim 1 including the steps of clamping the form before pouring of the concrete therein, removing the clamps after the concrete therein is cured, the form remaining in position so as to eventually deteriorate. 

1. In a process for applying a reinforced concrete casing to an underwater steel supporting pile, the steps of positioning a reinforcing cage around that portion of the pile which is to be coated with concrete, positioning a bottom plate having an opening therethrough closely conforming to the configuration of the pile beneath said cage, placing a cylindrical-like form, with openings in its upper portion, around said cage and on said bottom plate, elevating said bottom plate and cylindrical-like form from the bottom to bring the upper end of said form into contact with the lower face of the pile cap to close the upper end thereof, and pumping concrete upwardly through the bottom plate into the cylindrical form, forcing the water within the form outwardly thereof through said openings until the form is filled with concrete.
 2. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein said reinforcing cage is in two parts with said parts bEing assembled around the pile.
 3. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein said cylindrical-like form comprises two parts with said parts being assembled around the pile and cage.
 4. A process as claimed in claim 3 including the step of sealingly connecting the cooperating edges of the cylindrical-like form parts.
 5. A process as claimed in claim 4 including the step of maintaining the cylindrical-like form tightly against the pile cap while the concrete is being pumped into the form and being cured.
 6. A process as claimed in claim 1 including the steps of suspending the bottom plate around the pile and positioning the cylindrical-like form on the suspended bottom plate.
 7. A process as claimed in claim 1 including the steps of clamping the form before pouring of the concrete therein, removing the clamps after the concrete therein is cured, the form remaining in position so as to eventually deteriorate. 